Once my shift finished, I immediately head towards the dressing room to change my attire. It is very suffocating because of it’s thick fabric and it’s also tight for my liking.
I am holding a big plastic bag full of dishes that is still not eaten by the customers and the leftovers from the pan and cauldron.
Before I go home, I would always ask for some leftover dishes in the kitchen to bring home. The chefs would also gladly give it to me because they couldn’t sell it anymore the next day. I would reheat it in the morning for our breakfast and if we get lucky enough, there’s also some for lunch. My mother and father is very happy every time I bring a delicious food home because we rarely eat delicious food when I still wasn’t working at the restaurant.
When I enter the dressing room, my already clean uniform is the first thing I see. I smile and immediately grab it from the standee to wear it. I know it’s already dry because it’s been nine hours since Sean washed this. I’m really very thankful to have Sean in my life. He’s like a real life-saver to me just like how he treats me like his real life-saver too.
It’s already four in the morning and the restaurant will close any minute now. I already finished wiping the tables and mapping the floor so I can finally go home.
When I come out from the back door, I see Paulo throwing some garbage in the trashcan so I approach him. “Hey, do you still have something to do after that?” I ask him.
He looks at me and shakes his head. “No. Why? Do you need something?”
“No, not really. I just want to walk with you. Your house is this way, right?” I point the right side of the road. I live two blocks away from here while Paulo lives just nearby the place.
“Yeah. Okay, let’s go.”
We trudge the quiet, empty road while talking about my best friend, Sean. If you are asking why our topic is about him, it’s because this stupid fool has been having a crush on my best friend for a long time now but is so timid to confess and chooses to disturb me with his bombarding questions about Sean.
Once we reach the first block, we pass a small bar in which the people drinking inside can be seen clearly through the glass window. My forehead creases when I see the guy from the restaurant a while ago, drinking his ass off alone while a woman is sitting on his lap. He just let her be while he continue drinking his bottle of beer.
I come back from my senses when Paulo suddenly punches my shoulder harshly. “Ahh! What the hell, Paulo!” I snarl at him while massaging my sore shoulder. His punch is no joke at all. I feel like my arm would fall out any minute. This jerk!
He looks at me playfully. “Stop daydreaming. He won’t be yours,” he says causing me to crease my forehead more. Why would he think that I like the guy?!
“What the hell are you talking about?” I look at him like he has grown two heads.
“That rich kid,” he says while pointing at the direction of the guy. Okay, stupid! I know that you’re referring to him! But what I meant is very far from your answer!
I roll my eyes and quickly walk away from him. I can hear him laughing loudly behind me that makes me get more annoyed. This jerk keeps saying nonsense every time he sees me looking at someone else. He keeps teasing me even though he knows that I don’t like them because he wants to see me always scowling. But even though he’s like that, he’s really kind. Though he’s a bit idiotic—no, scratch that— he’s a real idiot. At working hours, he’s very serious but when we are outside, he would act like a child. He’s more immature than the six years olds.
~
Paulo already arrived home because his house is nearer than mine while I still have to take a turn to the right before I could reach mine.
I am still far from the house but I can already see the light still open in our living room. I walk faster until I’m finally running. I feel nervous because every time I go home, the light in our living room is already turned off. Though this is not the first time I come home with the light still open because this already happened before and that time, I was so shocked when I saw my mother lying on the floor and not moving a muscle though she’s breathing just fine. I didn’t waste any more time and immediately brought her to the hospital even though it’s still midnight. But it turned out, she just fell asleep on the floor. I was so worried sick back then.
I hurriedly open the front door and hope that they just forgot to turn off the light before they went to bed. My heart pounds even more when I hear some faint noises from the television. Once I reach the living room, I see my mother sleeping in a sitting position on the couch while still holding the remote control. I crouch down in front of her and observe her breathing. I breathe out a sigh of relief when I see her chest rising and falling calmly, means, she is just sleeping. Perhaps, she just fell asleep in the middle of watching some shows due to the strong medication she’s been taking.
I smile and gently take the remote control from her hand to turn off the television. I go to the kitchen to put the foods that I had brought from the restaurant inside our mini refrigerator that our neighbor gave to us when they finally bought a new refrigerator that is bigger than this.
When I come back in the living room, I carefully carry my mother in my arms to bring her in their room. My father can’t help her at all because he couldn’t walk anymore due to his diabetes. He’s also always on his wheelchair.
When I come inside their room with my mother in my arms, I see my father already sleeping soundly while holding a newspaper. I carefully lay her down next to him and cover them both with a blanket so they wouldn’t get cold before walking out of their room.
I go back to the kitchen to drink some glass of water then I finally enter my room afterwards and lay down on my bed. I’ve decided not to take a bath anymore since it’s almost sunrise and I will go back to school at eight so there’s no use of taking one if I’m still going to take a bath later.
While waiting to get drowsy, I remember the guy that was drinking at the bar and for sure, he’s still drinking his ass off right now. He’s angry at his parents. That’s for sure too. Maybe he had some misunderstanding with his father or maybe he had done something wrong that may ruin their business but he got angry and walk away or maybe his father had said something that he didn’t like and is inimical to his will? It’s either that or he’s just really an asshole towards his family. A rebel I might say.
I shake my head and force myself to fall asleep so that I can finally forget the other people’s problems. I already have enough on my plate, I don’t want to add any more distasteful dish on my plate that isn’t mine in the first place.